


Stargazing

by mistrali



Series: Variations on a Theme (Loved the Stars Too Fondly) [3]
Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7250608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/pseuds/mistrali
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tris learns a little more about her new housemate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: The reference to Tortall is from [here](http://tamorapierceprompts.tumblr.com/post/116912405114/prompt-440-by-anonymous) \- you may read it as in-universe fiction, or as (AU) evidence of an in-universe connection between the worlds of Tortall and Emelan. Feedback of all kinds is always appreciated, but I feel like I dropped the ball on this one, for some reason.

It took until Tris's fifth day at Discipline for the skies to clear. It was already properly dark by the time she'd fidgeted through supper, dressed and cleaned her teeth. She grabbed her star charts and slate and hurried up to the roof, then scowled. There was someone lying in her usual place; the braid dangling from the edge told her clearly enough who it was.

"Don't you have sewing to do?" she growled, hurrying up to the noble girl. "That's my spot. I'm supposed to track the stars while Niko's gone."

The girl sat up and half-turned. "There's no need to be rude," she said, so softly that Tris felt herself blush. "I've as much right to be here as you."

Tris sighed, thought of Niko's admonitions, and tried again. "Fine. Would you please move? This spot is better for looking at the constellations, all right?"

The noble - Sandry, Tris reminded herself - didn't even bother to get up, but brushed off her skirts and slid over to the other, lower side of the roof. Tris frowned. Had Sandry been crying? Close up, under the torchlight from the courtyard, her nose was red and swollen. 

Still, to Tris's eternal relief, for once she didn't seem to want to talk any more. Instead she raised her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. Tris opened her charts to the first page of Goose Moon, then began to sketch The Awl with a piece of chalk Niko had lent her. She didn't care to try her skills at ink just yet. They sat there for a long while, Tris scribbling and Sandry meditating. At length Tris finished her sketches and went to clamber down the ladder, her things clutched awkwardly in her left hand. She looked warily at her housemate, whose silence was starting to unnerve her, but decided to chance it. If Sandry was going to ambush her at the trapdoor, she would just be extra careful coming up from the privy. She sent a wind ahead of her as she ascended, just in case.

Sure enough, it picked up rustling.  
Tris clambered over the edge of the roof, red-faced, to find her housemate examining the book she'd left open. It was Tris's only remaining novel from Ninver, _Beyond the Glaive: Fianola's Legacy._

"I used to have this!" exclaimed Sandry, high-voiced, as Tris was about to blister her for touching someone else's belongings. "I bought it at a fair in Capchen, with my -- I mean, for three copper crescents. It was my first time bargaining on my own. Only, I didn't like knights very much." She tried to smile. "I'd rather have read about Trader legends, but they're not written down often." 

Tris hesitated. Mila witness, who was this girl who struck bargains with booksellers and defended thieves? 

"You're telling me a tale," she said, still suspicious. "How could a noble know about Trader stories? I suppose the Trader girl's been teaching you."

"My nursemaid taught me," said Sandry flatly. She looked fixedly at her hands. "She died of the smallpox in Zakdin. My parents, too." 

Even Tris didn't doubt that. She drew the gods-circle on her chest and resettled herself on the straw beside Sandry. "Is - is that why you're here?" she began awkwardly. "Don't you have any other family?"

This time Sandry let out a huff of breath that was halfway to a chuckle. "They'd probably just send me here anyway. This place is more interesting than living with Uncle. My parents travelled... well, almost all my life, so I never really met my cousins until... recently." 

_That's nobles for you,_ thought Tris, as Sandry lapsed back into silence and started to chew on her braid. _Why can't they stay at home like sensible people? If_ I _had a whole palace here, I'd have a library made out of the lower floors and live in the turret. I could command storms just fine from there._


End file.
